Author of the Week - Jack Prelutsky

This week will be one of firsts. I am now officially calling my Wednesday posts, Author of the Week as opposed to Forgotten Author of the Week. The main reason for this is that I feel terrible calling authors forgotten when I look them up and discover they just published a book within the past year. I also feel like this frees up the posts so that I can feature new and old authors.

Jack Prelutsky is the poem master of silly and fun. Often compared to Shel Silverstein and Edward Lear, Prelutsky is all nonsense. While attending school in the Bronx, Jack took regular piano and voice lessons, performing in various shows. Interesting enough, Jack developed a dislike for poetry due to a teacher who "left him with the impression that poetry was the literary equivalent of liver." When he was older, Jack spent a solid six months drawing animals in ink and watercolor. One night, he decided to write two short verse poems to go with each drawing. Next thing he knew, friends and even an editor encouraged him to write more. Today, Prelutsky has written hundreds of poems featured in his award-winning books The New Kid on the Block, The Dragons Are Singing Tonight, The Frogs Wore Red Suspenders, and If Not For the Cat. On a technical level, jack's poems often have great twists and turns, and shape. If the poem is about a Christmas tree then perhaps the poem will be shaped like a tree. A neverending poem that can go round and round may be a circle. These are especially appealing to children as they are not only fun to read, but also to look at.

No biography would be complete without sharing with you a few of his fun and fabulous poems and pictures:

Louder than a Clap of Thunder

Louder than a clap of thunder,

louder than an eagle screams,

louder than a dragon blunders,

or a dozen football teams,

louder than a four-alarmer,

or a rushing waterfall,

louder than a knight in armor

jumping from a ten-foot wall.

Louder than an earthquake rumbles,

louder than a tidal wave,

louder than an ogre grumbles

as he stumbles through his cave,

louder than stampeding cattle,

louder than a cannon roars

louder than a giant’s rattle,

that’s how loud my father SNORES!

My Mother Says I'm Sickening

My mother says I’m sickening,

my mother says I’m crude,

she says this when she sees me,

playing Ping-Pong with my food,

she doesn’t seem to like it

when I slurp my bowl of stew,

and now she’s got a list of things

she says I mustn’t do-

DO NOT CATAPULT THE CARROTS!

DO NOT JUGGLE GOBS OF FAT!

DO NOT DROP THE MASHED POTATOES

ON THE GERBIL OR THE CAT!

NEVER PUNCH THE PUMPKIN PUDDING!

NEVER TUNNEL THROUGH THE BREAD!

PUT NO PEAS INTO YOUR POCKET!

PLACE NO NOODLES ON YOUR HEAD!

DO NOT SQUEEZE THE STEAMED ZUCCHINI!

DO NOT MAKE THE MELON OOZE!

NEVER STUFF VANILLA YOGURT

IN YOUR LITTLE SISTER’S SHOES!

DRAW NO FACES IN THE KETCHUP!

MAKE NO LITTLE GRAVY POOLS!

I wish my mother wouldn’t make

so many useless rules.

I am Running in a Circle

I am running in a circle

and my feet are getting sore,

and my head is

spinning

spinning

as it's never spun before,

I am

dizzy dizzy dizzy.

Oh! I cannot bear much more,

I am trapped in a revolving

. . . volving

. . . volving

. . . volving door!

Check out jackprelutsky.com for more poems and fun